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Absolutely brilliant. Is this a semiotic analysis? Only typographic quibble is the kings speech appears to be using Gill Sans rather than Futura which is appropriate for a film referencing 40s Britain rather than Germany.

The reference to semiotics was a compliment. I think the article is a great analysis.

The Kings Speech is about a British King who reigned through WW2.
In the article's final analysis, The Kings Speech is referred to as using Futura. The poster for the film is actually using Gill Sans.

Futura is a typeface designed in 1920's Germany. It's influenced by contemporary modernism (exemplified in Bauhaus and Die Neue Typograpie) and very reminiscent of that period when attempts were made to produce functional typefaces based on the scientific principles of geometry.

Gill Sans is also a sans serif designed in the 1920s but this time it was designed in Britain and not based on geometry, but on the proportions of classical typefaces such as Garamond.

Gill Sans is entirely appropriate for this type of 'British' film. Futura is brilliant, but would not be the right choice for such a movie. To me Gill Sans it it gives off a different emotion to Futura reminiscent of Britain in that period. It's great for things like Wimbledon.

Along the lines of "Text In Your Face", a lot of movies these days feature posters of individual characters behind heavy text describing their roll in the story. It's always "The [something]". And it's not just the main characters...

I've collected original movie posters for decades - and I wouldn't touch a Mondo poster with a ten foot pole. And, I don't know any other movie poster collector who would. They're just a way to make money...

Mondo posters are certainly aimed at collectors, being that they are only produced in very limited runs. And of course they are a way to make money, but much of it goes to the artists, then the printers and Mondo. But they are typically only $40, sometimes more for more limited variants with more colors. Really not bad for an signed/numbered piece of art. And it's unfortunate that you can't appreciate Mondo for what it is--they work with the very best poster designers, from internationally recognized young designers like Olly Moss to Drew Struzan, creator of original poster art for movies such as Back to the Future, Blade Runner, and of course, Star Wars. Mondo aims to bring back an era of illustrated movie art that is largely forgotten today. And I'll take that over the crap in OP's blog post any day. But you and the "collectors" that you know don't have to like them, the less desirable that they are, the greater my chances of getting one. Then again, they sell out in less than a minute and re-sale on eBay for hundreds of dollars, so what the hell do you know.

These movies span a period of at least sixty years...worth that kind of pool to choose from, I don't think that finding patterns among the covers means anything at all. What it means is that movie covers are freaking small and there's only so many ways you can present the title, the characters, the location (maybe), and possibly at theme our motif.

Now, of these movies were mostly from the last give years, I'd say these were "trends", but I think it's more likely that these patterns are the result of limitations of the movie cover as an expressive medium.

If you're referring to fan-made or special event movie posters, those aren't the posters you see at giant cineplexes. I think what the author is referring to are the posters that studios use to market movies to the masses.